Category: technology

On Tuesday at the Future Blockchain Summit in Dubai it was announced that Ford, General Motors, BMW and Renault are only some of the big names that have joined MOBI – the Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative. The aim of the consortium is to use Blockchain technology to make mobility safer, more environmentally friendly and more affordable.

Table of Contents
Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative
A decentralised mobility ecosystem
IOTA cooperates with MOBI
The first projects in the starting blocks
Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative
MOBI aims to explore the use of blockchain and distributed ledger technology to develop a digital mobility ecosystem to make traffic safer, more affordable and more accessible. Since they work with companies that account for over 70 percent of global vehicle production in terms of market share, it seems they have a pretty good chance of achieving this.

Bitcoin Code a new Platform

Chris Ballinger, former CFO and Director of Bitcoin Code at the Toyota Research Institute, has joined MOBI as CEO to “create a more open platform where users, owners, mobility service providers and infrastructure providers can better control and monetize their assets, including their data.

A decentralised mobility ecosystem
MOBI and its partners want to ensure that they can create an ecosystem in which companies and consumers can have security and sovereignty over their travel data, manage carpooling and car-sharing transactions and store vehicle identity and usage data.

They can use the power of blockchain technology to reliably capture vehicle ID numbers and collision histories and create greater transparency in supply chains, assembly lines and at dealers. To create this mobility ecosystem, they invite stakeholders from all areas of the mobility value chain.

These are not only limited to the giants of car manufacturers, but also work with stakeholders from public transport and toll road providers, other modes of transport, technology companies, academic institutions, start-up innovators, regulators around the world and blockchain companies such as IOTA.

There are many advantages to working in a consortium instead of tackling such a project alone. By working with MOBI, their partners can create transparency and trust among users, reduce the risk of fraud and reduce friction losses and transaction costs in mobility, such as fees or surcharges from third parties.

IOTA cooperates with Bitcoin Profit

Shortly after the announcement of the Bitcoin Profit scam the IOTA Foundation published a statement that it also joins the automobile consortium. The mission of the IOTA Foundation is to support the development and standardization of new distributed ledger technologies. Dominik Schiener and David Sønstebø co-founders and co-presidents of the IOTA Foundation:

“WE ARE PROUD TO BE A MEMBER OF MOBI AND TO WORK WITH OTHER LEADING GLOBAL COMPANIES TO PROMOTE INDUSTRY STANDARDS THAT UNLEASH THE POTENTIAL OF DLT FOR THE MOBILITY SECTOR TO CREATE A SEAMLESS, SAFE AND AFFORDABLE MOBILITY EXPERIENCE.

The first projects in the starting blocks
MOBI and its partners will initially concentrate on the following projects:

Vehicle identity, history and data tracking
Supply chain tracking, transparency and efficiency
Autonomous machine and vehicle payments
Secure mobile commerce
Data markets for autonomous and human driving
Car sharing and carpooling
Usage-based mobility prices and payments for vehicles, insurance, energy, congestion, pollution and infrastructure.
MOBI seems to be a promising venture, considering that there are so many big names on board. It will be interesting to see how the project develops and what impact it will have on the entire automotive industry.